The city of Aspen is moving toward regulations that would require new development to include features to clean stormwater runoff.

The program will aim to remove 80 percent of the sediment that would normally accumulate in stormwater running across a home site. This can be accomplished with layouts that minimize hard surfaces and filtration techniques.

The effort would complement a larger stormwater management program approved by voters in 2007. The city is in the process of planning and designing multiple stormwater collection vaults and filtering ponds in points throughout town and near the Roaring Fork River. One such system, already in place at the Jenny Adair site near the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, has collected many tons of black sludge that would have otherwise flowed into the river.

April Barker, hired by the city in the spring to manage the stormwater program, is preparing a manual to guide more stormwater-friendly design, and will be seeking input from the development community in the effort. She hopes to have an ordinance before Aspen City Council by this summer to implement the stormwater quality regulations.

“The ultimate goal is to mimic nature,” Barker said. Since that’s basically impossible in an urban area, the next best thing is to design development sites to minimize the travel of stormwater runoff over paved surfaces, which is where runoff picks up most sedimentary pollutants.

While the city will be spending millions to build stormwater cleansing systems near the river, Barker said that the closer to the source of the pollution the water is filtered, the better.

curtis@aspendailynews.com